


Knowledge

by almarobotica



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokéuman
Genre: Broken Masquerade, Clones, Coronavirus, I guess this counts as a Rational Fic, Pokéuman - Freeform, To Unmasque the World, Worldbuilding, Yes the coronavirus is important enough to the plot of this fic that I'm putting a tag for it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24665197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almarobotica/pseuds/almarobotica
Summary: Dominique de la Fortuna thinks they're just an average college student (well, theywerea student before the pandemic made the schools shut down), but one day, their entire life gets flipped on its head. They learn that the world they live in is completely different from what they think it is, and now they're getting caught up in a huge web of conspiracies far bigger than themself...
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	1. Bienvenide

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fanfiction based on the Pokéumans AU. If you don't know what that is, it's basically a universe that's just like the real world, except Pokémon are real in the form of Pokéumans, who appear human at first but then transform into Pokémon (usually some time during their adolescence). The Pokéumans AU was originally created by [pokemonmanic3595](https://www.deviantart.com/pokemonmanic3595), AKA Brandon Chan.
> 
> This fic does not completely adhere to the established Pokéumans canon. I made a few adjustments for the sake of this specific story. For the most part, you can assume that this fic follows the canon except when otherwise stated.

_A Lucario stood upon a concrete circle under a cloudy gray sky. They were surrounded by tall, imposing buildings shaped like huge boxes._

_A long staircase extended in front of them, and they carefully walked down it. At the edges of the stairs, instead of a railing, there were signs._

_Each of the signs said ‘君はファンフィクションにいるからルカリオになった,’ but the Lucario didn’t know enough Japanese to understand it._

_They reached the bottom of the stairs. Someone wearing desaturated brown robes, resembling those of a Catholic monk, stood with their back to the Lucario._

_The Lucario asked if the robed figure could hear them. The figure turned around, and_ Dominique startled awake. With a grumble, they rose and turned on the lamp on their bedside table. This was the third night in a row they had had that strange dream.

They grabbed a pencil and flipped open their dream journal, when they realized their arms were actually blobs…

…No, wait, they just didn’t have their glasses on. They put on their glasses, and their arms focused into their normal shape.

They wrote, _“6/13/2020– another reoccurring dream. i was a lucario standing in an empty plaza with brutalist architecture. there were a bunch of signs in gibberish. i went down a flight of stairs and found the old hooded figure. when they turned around to look at me, i woke up.”_

With that done, they got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. It was a Saturday, so they decided to treat themself by eating breakfast cereal straight out of the box.

The doorbell rang. Dominique answered it, and there was a blonde deliverywoman wearing a cloth mask standing on the porch.

“Hi, I’m here to deliver this!” she said, gesturing to a suspiciously large package beside her.

“Huh?” said Dominique. “I didn’t order a package.”

The deliveryman lowered her head, and her lower eyelids rose with a smile…

…as she sheepishly said, “Ah, sorry! Wrong house! Have a good day!”

She wheeled her package away and walked to the next house over. Dominique closed the door.

Shrugging, they slouched in their couch and browsed through their social media feeds. Boring stuff. Politics, inane gameplay clips, worldwide protests against police brutality, a callout post, the like.

But then, they noticed a strange smell, and gas filled the room…

…as they farted. Man, it was _not_ a good idea to eat Tex-Mex for dinner yesterday! This smelled rank!

They opened the window. Outside, there were a bunch of weird orbs…

…formed by dirt accumulated on their glasses. Dominique sighed and rubbed their glasses with their shirt.

They continued about their business, showering, writing in their blog, playing video games, and other inconsequential stuff.

It was around noon when they froze suddenly. Sweat dripped down their back as a horrible, sinking feeling ran through their core. It felt almost like a spike were growing from their chest…

…as they realized they were almost out of estradiol. They would have to refill it.

They went online and ordered some. It was a bit pricey, but not so much that it would bankrupt them, so they didn’t mind.

Afterwards, they got out their vintage 3DS and started playing Pokémon Omega Ruby. They were a fan of the series, but they got disinterested after the horrible debacle with Sword and Shield. Despite that, they still liked to play the games from time to time.

In fact, Dominique was in the middle of a Nuzlocke run! They had finished the Petalburg Gym the other day with their Combusken (named Solaris) at the forefront of their team. They had always felt a sort of kinship with Fire-type Pokémon. Perhaps it was because Dominique themself had a fiery drive to accomplish what they thought was right.

Unfortunately, they had lost half of their team at the gym due to poor planning. Solaris and Ziggy (their Zangoose) were the only survivors.

Dominique played through the segment where they saved Latias, fortunately avoiding any casualties, and then saved and quit. They weren’t feeling up to a long play session today.

For dinner, they cooked a modest serving of tacos—having not learned their lesson about eating Tex-Mex. They weren’t a good cook, but they weren’t bad, either. The tacos were decent.

Finally, it was late in the evening. Dominique yawned, turned off the lights, and went to the bedroom.

Dominique halted and stared at…

…the open window! It was so chilly in here!

Also, a Mudkip was sitting on top of the bed, staring at Dominique. It was wearing a bracelet on its front left paw and a surgical mask over its snout, and its translucent tail gently waved back and forth.

After a moment of hesitation, Dominique bowed.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” they said. “My name is Dominique de la Fortuna.”

The Mudkip blinked, snorted, and then laughed.

“Overly polite, as always!” it smiled.

“…Sorry, have we met before?” Dominique asked.

“In a way,” said the Mudkip. “Also, I like how nonchalantly you’re taking this. I already knew you’re adaptable, but to think you would react to seeing a real life Pokémon by bowing and greeting it formally…”

Dominique looked at it blankly.

It continued, “I know who you are, Dominique, but we haven’t actually met in person. You can call me Llueve.”

“Llueve? As in, the Spanish word for ‘it rains’?”

“Yes, exactly,” Llueve nodded. It hopped off the bed and walked forward. “Dominique, you may not know who I am, but you know who I used to be.”

Furrowing their brow, Dominique squatted so as to not tower over Llueve. “Really? How? I don’t remember meeting any Mudkips…”

“Of course not, I wasn’t always a Mudkip.”

Dominique was confused. “Not always a Mudkip?”

“Yes. You see, I’m actually something called a ‘Pokéuman,’ which is basically a human of Pokémon ancestry. When I was about thirteen, I transformed into my Mudkip form, and I’ve been like this ever since.”

“Huh…” Dominique nodded. “So how old are you now?”

“As old as you are: nineteen!”

“Oh, cool! So, wait, if we didn’t meet when you were a Mudkip, then we must have met when you were human, right?” Dominique leaned right up to Llueve’s face. “Who were you, then?!”

Llueve hummed. “…I think it should be obvious.”

Dominique silently looked at Llueve in confusion. Llueve smiled, raised their forepaw, and booped them on the nose. “I was _you!_ ”

“What?” Dominique recoiled, rubbing their nose.

“I was you,” Llueve repeated. “There’s a reason you haven’t heard of Pokéumans before. When a Pokéuman transforms, they’re sent to live in a secret base away from human society. A clone of the Pokéuman is created to live in their place.”

Llueve shouted, “You are my clone, Dominique!”

Dominique paused. They squinted at Llueve as their words sank in.

“…That’s a bit much to believe,” they said.

Llueve sputtered, “Being a clone is too much, but the existence of Pokémon is all fine and dandy?!”

“Yup,” said Dominique. “I mean, I can see and hear you, but… Actually, wait one moment.” They fished their phone out of their skirt pocket and looked at Llueve through the camera app. “…Uh huh, I can see and hear you. Cameras don’t hallucinate.” They put the phone away. “That means I have physical proof right in front of me that Pokémon exist. I _don’t_ have proof that I’m a clone.”

“I knew how old you were!” Llueve protested.

“If you can sneak into my bedroom in the middle of a quarantine without me noticing, you can certainly find out my birth year.”

Llueve shut their eyes and forced a tense breath through their nose. “I… I know that when you were eleven, you had a DeviantArt account called XxPoKeLoVeRxX, and you used MS Paint to make a lot of—”

Dominique seized Llueve by the neck and forced their hand over their snout. “How the hell do you know about that?! That account didn’t even use my normal email!”

Llueve glanced down to Dominique’s hand, and then back up. “Mmf.”

“…Right,” Dominique said. They uncovered Llueve’s mouth.

“I told you, I’m you!” said Llueve. “I know all about your life before the age of thirteen. You were—and apparently still are—a Pokémon fan, your favorite Pokémon was Gastly because you thought its eyes looked cool, you didn’t know you were trans, your deadname is Ky—”

Dominique slapped Llueve’s mouth shut again. “Don’t,” they scolded before uncovering it.

Llueve looked at the floor. “…Sorry.”

The two of them were silent for a second. Dominique took a deep breath.

“You’re really telling the truth, huh…” They looked at the backs of their hands. “…a clone…”

Llueve nodded.

“…Why are you telling me about this?”

“Because I’m… defecting, sort of,” said Llueve.

“Defecting, _sort of?_ ”

“Well, I’m not really _leaving_ the Pokéumans, but I _am_ completely going against the organization and what it stands for. I want the world to know about Pokéumans! I want Pokémon and humans to coexist!”

Dominique nodded. “I see… It must be difficult having to abandon your life and live among a hidden society.”

“It is,” Llueve stated.

There was another awkward silence.

“Shouldn’t we…” Dominique considered their words. “…tell the news or something? Or maybe upload a video online? That would get word out quick, wouldn’t it?”

Llueve gazed at a patch of carpet like they were trying to psychically burn a hole into it. “It would, but…”

Dominique expectantly raised their eyebrows.

With an awkward grimace, Llueve blurted, “But there’s kinda sorta an organization dedicated to the genocide of Pokéumans!”

“There’s _what?!_ ” Dominique rose.

“They’re called Pokéxtinction, and they’re the ones who make clones of Pokéumans,” said Llueve gravely. “I’m actually supposed to be spying on them right now. They have a base really close by…”

They looked up at the clock. “Ugh. It’s getting late. I need to get going if I want any intel…”

“Wait, spying on them?” Dominique asked. “What about the pandemic? Aren’t there gonna be some infected people there?”

“Yeah… Thing is, the higher-ups at the Pokéumans and Pokéxtinction aren’t letting anyone take time off for social distancing. They both think that their missions are more important than any plague, and I don’t really have any power to resist,” said Llueve.

Llueve ran underneath the windowsill. “Don’t forget what I told you! Write it down! Keep it somewhere hidden! And for the love of God, _don’t mention this to anyone!_ I’ll try and visit again later!”

They leaped out of the open window and ran into the night.

Dominique paused. They walked over, leaned their head out of the window, and saw a mangled window screen lying on the dirt.

“USE THE DOOR NEXT TIME!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like me some fake-outs! Don't worry, the rest of the fic isn't going to be as bait-and-switchy as the first half of this chapter. I just wanted to make some light-hearted jabs at some clichés you see in other Pokeuman fics.


	2. Exposición

Somewhere, in a base deep underground, an Altaria was soundly sleeping in his own private room. It was the dead of night, and all was quiet.

“Commander Solis!” someone yelled, banging on the door loud enough to instantly wake the Altaria up. “I have urgent news!”

“Grr… What is it…?!” the Altaria grumbled as he opened the door to face a shaking Aggron in a slightly undersized business suit. “It better be _real_ urgent if you’re waking me up in the middle of the night about it…”

“As of a few minutes ago, over 50% of the Infantry Division has been incapacitated by the coronavirus. I’ve asked the people at the Medical Division, and they’re all in agreement that if you don’t institute some sort of protocol to keep the virus’s spread in check—”

“ _How dare you insult me with this nonsense,_ ” Commander Solis hissed. “You’re seriously calling a simple flu urgent news?! They’ll just get over it in a week! Sergeant Gayoshi, I have half a mind to discharge you… After I get some rest.” He slammed the door shut and went back to bed.

The Aggron blinked. Quietly, they continued, “…then, the sickness will grow exponentially, and the entire infantry will be unable to fight by the end of the month.”

* * *

In the morning, at around 6 AM, Dominique wrote in their dream journal, _‘6/14/2020 – I dreamt I was in my bedroom, having a conversation with a Mudkip. It said that its name was Llueve, and I was its clone. It used to be a human, but at the age of 13 it transformed into a Mudkip, and I took its place. It also said something about a group called “Poké-humans,” which keeps Pokémon secret from the world, and a group called “Poké-extinction,” which wants Pokémon to—as the name suggests—go extinct. Llueve then leapt out of the window.’_

They were certain that it was just a dream. After all, Pokémon was just a media franchise. Mudkips weren’t real, and Dominique didn’t liek them anyway—no matter what anyone herd.

They sat at their desk, and as they flipped open their laptop (whose camera was, of course, covered in tape), they noticed that the word processor was open—if the line under it on the taskbar was anything to go by. They clicked on the icon and gasped at the window that popped up.

It was the exact same scenario that they had just written in their dream journal, with extra details!

Just then, someone rang the doorbell. Dominique closed the laptop, walked to the front door, and looked through the peephole.

Nothing was outside.

“Must be that estradiol. They’re faster than usual…”

Dominique opened the door and looked down.

What lied in front of them was not a package, but rather…

“Llueve?! So, it wasn’t just a dream?”

Llueve cocked their head (which was adorned with a large knit hat) as they walked inside. “Of course not? I told you I’d visit again!”

Dominique rubbed their temples and muttered, “I’m still having trouble processing this…”

“I’m sure you have some questions,” said Llueve. “Ask away.”

Dominique wrung their hands together. “Uh… Let’s go to my room, first.”

The two of them went to Dominique’s bedroom, and Dominique opened their laptop.

“First off, how many Pokéumans are there?”

“…I actually don’t know.” Llueve drooped their head. “I know that there are Pokéuman bases all over the Earth, so there’s definitely a few million at least. The population of the nearest base, the Salt Lake Base, is about 100,000.”

Dominique nodded. “I see. Is it OK if I write this down?”

“Of course!”

They started a new paragraph in the text file and began typing down the information that Llueve told them.

“What’s the hierarchy for the Pokéumans?”

“The Pokéumans are actually sort of scattered. Each base is pretty much independent from the other bases, but they all tend to follow a structure similar to a school. There’s trainees, teachers, principals, and one leader for each base. The base leaders regularly hold meetings together at the base in Long Island, New York, which is sort of like the main base.”

“You said you’re a spy, right? What’s the hierarchy for Pokéxtinction?”

“It’s really strictly regimented, kind of like the military. Mr. X is the guy at the tippity top of the organization, and he leads all of the branches. Each member of Pokéxtinction has a specific role in the command structure, from which they have little freedom.”

“Is Pokéxtinction composed entirely of humans?”

“No, there’s actually a lot of Pokémon working for them. Mr. X is actually a Mewtwo! Some of them joined because of brainwashing, others joined because they wanted to become human again… but there _are_ plenty of full-blooded humans there, too.”

“How did Pokéxtinction find out about Pokémon?”

“Well, a hundred years ago, Mr. X was doing some kind of experiment with a hair sample from Mew, when he accidentally sent a shockwave all across the world that basically activated latent Pokémon genes inside of humans. These humans started transfo—”

“Wait, wait. Latent Pokémon genes?”

“Uh huh. Latent Pokémon genes. Back when humans were evolving from Neanderthals, Pokémon started interbreeding with humans, leaving their own genes in the human gene pool.”

“…That doesn’t make any sense.” Dominique closed their laptop and shot a weird look at Llueve. “How can Pokémon and humans be reproductively compatible? There’s no way a Mudkip and a human could create viable offspring.”

“That’s because the Pokémon used their technology to take human form and _then_ interbred with humans,” Llueve handwaved. “Duh.”

Dominique shook their head. “If they took human form, why did their children still have Pokémon genes? And for another thing, why did the Pokémon even _bother_ interbreeding with us? What’s so special about humans?”

Llueve blinked. They were clearly blindsided by Dominique’s questions. “…Um… I don’t know. That’s just what the history teacher told me! Pokémon acted as a mentor species to humans, with some of them even abandoning their ways and starting human families, until eventually humans grew arrogant and waged war with Pokémon, and the Pokémon left and destroyed all evidence of their existence! They currently live in an alternate dimension, which we only managed to gain access to in 2010 with the help of a Lucario called Brandon.”

“Hm… One more thing.” Dominique raised a finger. “Ignoring the fact that humans didn’t evolve from Neanderthals, shouldn’t there be Pokémon genes in every single human alive? If Pokémon were regularly breeding with early humans for presumably hundreds if not thousands of years, then shouldn’t their genes have carried on to every human alive?”

Llueve went completely silent.

They paused for a long while and eventually said, “I don’t know.”

Dominique hummed, reopened the laptop, and typed in the exact history that Llueve told them, followed by, _‘*This story seems fishy, possibly propaganda.’_

They turned around. “Another question—”

“Um,” Llueve spoke, “if you think what I said is just a load of baloney made up by the leaders, you should know that Pokéxtinction basically believes in the same thing.”

“What?”

“They believe in, essentially, the same history as the Pokéumans: the Pokémon lived in between the ages of dinosaurs and humans, when humans arose the Pokémon interbred with them, eventually a conflict happened and all the Pokémon except Mew moved to another dimension and erased all evidence of themselves. In the 1910s, Mr. X made an experiment involving Mew’s hairs, and he ended up causing Pokéumans to transform into Pokémon form, and he himself was turned into a Mewtwo. He founded Pokéxtinction to kill the Pokéumans, and in response, the Pokéumans founded, well, Pokéumans…” Llueve sighed. “…And yes, it _is_ confusing that the species and the organization share the same name.”

“Interesting… How was this learned? How could we remember this now, if all evidence of Pokémon was erased? And what about the Pokémon franchise?”

“When Mr. X caused the shockwave, he also gained knowledge of this forgotten history. He interpreted humans as the victims and the Pokémon as the oppressors, while the Pokéumans think of it as the other way around. As for the franchise, it was actually started by _Mew,_ who disguised himself as a Japanese man named Satoshi Tajiri and created the Pokémon games so as to educate humanity about Pokémon.”

Dominique blinked. “…There are a lot of weird things about what you just said, but I’m gonna focus on the last part: You’re telling me that _eighty years_ after the shockwave, Mew decided to reveal Pokémon to the world with a _video game series?!_ Why did he wait that long, and why did he do it through video games instead of… just telling us?”

“I don’t know why he waited, but he didn’t tell the world directly because he was afraid of history repeating.”

“It’s already repeating, isn’t it? Humans and Pokémon are at war—just in secret.”

Llueve hummed. “I guess so.”

Dominique nodded. “Speaking of secrecy, I have another question. Why are you telling me all this? Why break the masquerade?”

“I told you, I’m tired of living in secret,” said Llueve. “The world’s gotta know the truth about Pokémon sooner or later. This war has only gotten bigger and bigger, and with each day it gets harder to cover up. If things keep continuing like this, it’ll all boil over into a conflict as big as the first war between humans and Pokémon. The entire world will be divided into Pokéumans and Pokéxtinction. I don’t want that. I want knowledge! I want all of the world to have _knowledge,_ before it’s too late!”

“That makes sense. Knowledge is power, after all,” Dominique reasoned.

Llueve nodded. “Uh huh. That’s actually our motto! Knowledge is power.”

“Our motto?” Dominique asked. “We already have a motto?”

“Yeah? …Sorry, I forgot to tell you you’re not the _only_ person I’ve told about my plans. I’ve actually formed a group called, as you might guess, Knowledge!”

“Ooh!” Dominique put their hands together. “Great! How many other people are there?”

Llueve paused. “…I’m not quite sure if I should tell you that quite just yet. I’ll let you know that there’s at least one other person.”

They brought their paw up and tapped their hat.

The hat wobbled, fell off of Llueve’s head, and turned into blue goop. It reformed into a smiling shiny Ditto.

“Yellow!” said the Ditto.

“Oh, uh!” Dominique stood up and bowed. “Pleased to make your acquaintance! My name’s—”

Llueve burst into laughter. The Ditto snickered a little.

“You don’t need to be so formal, and I know what your name is already,” said the Ditto. “My name’s Bog. I use xe/xem pronouns.”

“OK! Well, it’s nice to meet another member of the team!” said Dominique.

“Sure is!” Bog smiled.

Dominique glanced at Llueve. “So, uh, what’s the plan?”

“What?” the two other members asked.

“How are we gonna spread knowledge of the Pokéumans? You guys already have a plan, right?”

“Uh, yeah, of course! It’s just sort of surprising how immediately on board you are with this,” said Llueve. “Bog… If you please?”

Bog nodded and promptly vomited out a small plastic case. Dominique wrinkled their face and hesitantly picked it up. It was transparent, allowing them to see an SD card snugly hidden inside.

“That SD card contains an abridged copy of our plans so far,” xe explained.

“Cool…” Dominique responded, trying to ignore the gross slimy residue.

They opened the case, closed their laptop, gently pushed it aside, fished through their desk drawers, and got out an old laptop.

Llueve and Bog looked at them strangely.

“What? I wanna make sure this doesn’t have a virus on it.” They turned the old laptop on and inserted the SD card into it. When they opened up the file manager, they saw that the card had only one file, titled _‘plan.txt’_. They clicked on it.

_THE PLAN FOR KNOWLEDGE_

_(NOTE: The group known as Pokeumans will be referred to as PG for the sake of convenience. Any mention of the word Pokeuman from here on out refers to the subspecies.)_

_Our plan to raise knowledge of Pokeumans has three phases: the Lowkey Phase, the Unveiling Phase, and the Aftermath Phase._

_The Lowkey Phase is the first phase, in which we will gain as many allies as possible. We will try to make people sympathetic to our cause by making them aware of the wider scale of the conflict between PG and Pokextinction, the senselessly violent and endless nature of this conflict, and the incredibly wasteful amount of resources spent on keeping this conflict hidden. Once we have recruited enough allies, from both Pokeumans and humans, we will move on to the next phase._

_The Unveiling Phase is the second phase, in which we will reveal the existence of Pokeumans to the world at large. We will make sure to spread as much knowledge as possible as quickly as possible through spamming, in-person demonstrations, and generally making a ruckus, so that no censorship effort by PG or by Pokextinction (or, Arceus forbid, both groups working together) could stop it. With a coordinated effort all across the globe, we will make sure that Pokeumans come to light! During this phase, we will make sure to spread knowledge of what Pokeumans are, their history, the histories of the PG and Pokextinction, and how humans and Pokeumans can come to peacefully coexist._

_The Aftermath Phase is the third and final phase, and most likely the longest, in which we will deal with the aftermath of the unveiling phase. We have to make sure to keep the public calm and keep our own asses safe from PG and Pokextinction, who both will likely be very ticked off with us and see us as a common enemy. In a worst case scenario, PG and Pokextinction could even team up against us!  
During this phase, we must make sure to ally ourselves with at least one powerful government, just to keep ourselves safe. We’re hoping to somehow become allies with the UN, but if that is too large of a task, we should ally with a superpower such as the USA._

Dominique took a deep breath and looked back at Llueve and Bog.

“…Well? What do you think?” Llueve asked.

“It’s…” They took a moment to consider their words. “…a bit lofty. I mean, seriously, first of all, how are you expecting to be able to avoid being censored by _two_ incredibly powerful organizations who have tons of resources dedicated to keeping themselves secret?! Seriously, how many members are there in Knowledge?”

Llueve blushed and looked away while fidgeting with their bracelet. “Uh… Well…”

“Including you, I think there’s two hundred and seventeen Pokéuman members, two transformed Pokéxtinction members, and one human,” said Bog. “So, 220 in total.”

“ _Two hundred and twe—?!_ Do you realize how _small_ that is?! That’s smaller than the amount of Pokémon in the Gen II Pokédex! You can fit that many people in a cafeteria!”

“Yeah, we know we have a long way to go…” Llueve admitted. “But, considering how few Pokéumans there are in comparison to humans, that’s actually a pretty large amount. And we’re looking to recruit more humans, too. We want to have at least as many humans as we do Pokéumans.”

“…That’ll still leave you with only 440. Which is less than even the Gen IV Pokédex. That’s about the same number of people who left kudos on that one popular fic I wrote a few years ago. It would be trivial to censor 440 people.”

“Hey, we’ll still keep recruiting Pokéumans along the way, too! And I think you’re forgetting, we’re able to use the internet! We can set up countless spambots in order to spread knowledge—”

“Knowledge that will then be immediately deleted by the spam filters that are on every modern website these days?”

“C’mon, we both know just how incompetent modern moderators can be. We’re not gonna get noticed at all, trust me.”

“I’m not convinced. A good plan has to account for every plausible thing that could go wrong. You can’t just handwave it away with ‘trust me.’”

Llueve clammed up.

“Uh, if I may,” Bog interjected, “Llueve’s a bit shit at speaking. I can explain what they’re trying to get at. We know that our numbers are _very_ small at the moment, but that’s because we’re still a fairly new organization. Our recruits are mostly members of Pokéumans who have become disillusioned with the group’s goals and want the world at large to learn of and accept the existence of Pokémon. Three of them are defectors of Pokéxtinction, who joined us for basically the same reason. You are the first human to join The Knowledge Organization. We want to recruit humans to our group because it will make the Unveiling Phase much, _much_ easier. Having humans who already know and trust us will make it easier for the rest of humanity to accept us, and it will also make it easier for us to access the internet to spread knowledge.”

Dominique wrinkled their eyebrows in confusion. Bog immediately continued, “We don’t get access to the internet at the Pokéuman bases. We have something called the Pokénet, which is almost completely isolated from the internet. We’re allowed to read data from certain websites, but we can’t send data. If we befriend humans, they can let us use the internet using their devices, which will save us the effort of having to get internet-accessing devices ourselves.”

“…Ah, I see,” said Dominique. “So you’re also planning on having humans post on social media about Pokéumans? I guess since a lot of humans already have established social media pages, that might work. And you could bypass stuff like word filters by putting slashes or asterisks in the word.”

“Exactly! That’s what I was trying to get at!” said Llueve.

“Well, I suppose if you do everything just right, everything will go as planned,” Dominique replied. “But I don’t need to tell you that things _will_ go wrong, right? It’s just a matter of statistics. The more chances you take, the more likely you are to get an unfavorable result. I mean, if even one of your recruits rats us out behind your backs, this whole group could just vanish before getting off the ground!”

Bog nodded. “We have considered that possibility and planned for it. Let me remind you that that file is only an _abridged_ copy of our full plan. We haven’t told any of our recruits our deadnames, which are also the only names the two of us go by in the official records because the people running the Salt Lake Base are transphobic as all hell—but, I’m getting off track—what I’m trying to get at is that all of us have codenames, and we don’t tell anyone the names that would get us caught if word got out.”

“Huh. So, am I gonna need a codename as well?”

“I’d say so. We’ll have to tell the other members about you eventually, and if your name got leaked… You’re probably the only non-Pokéxtinction human who knows about Pokéumans at the moment, so you’d be a high-priority target.”

“Huh…” Dominique leaned back in their chair. “…How about Lucky?”

Bog rubbed xyr ‘chin.’ “I think that name might be taken?” Xe looked at Llueve. “Llueve, you’re better at remembering specific personal details like that. Is it taken?”

“Yup! There’s already a Growlithe called that,” Llueve confirmed.

“Oh. Well, is Fortune taken?”

“That sounds too similar to your real name, though,” said Bog.

“And it’s also taken,” said Llueve, “by the Growlithe’s lesbian girlfriend Tsareena.”

“Okay then, uh…” Dominique thought for a moment. “What about Skip?”

“…I don’t think that’s taken, but why Skip?”

“Because you’re a Mudkip, and the word Mudkip is based on ‘mudskipper,’ and I just took a syllable from ‘mudskipper’ that sounded cool to me.”

“Oh,” said Llueve. “Well, I’ve heard of more frivolous reasons behind a codename, so I guess Skip’s fine.”

Bog grinned and started clapping. “Now that you’ve got a codename, you’re officially part of Knowledge! C’mon, Llueve, let’s celebrate our first human recruit!”

Llueve elbowed xem. “You know I don’t like being put at the center of attention like that, and Skip is literally just a clone of me! You’re making them uncomfortable!”

“Sorry, I’m just real excited!” Bog laughed.

Skip shut their old laptop loudly and put it away. Bog and Llueve looked at them.

“Well, guys?” they asked. “What’re we waiting for? Let’s get on with our plan!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! This chapter was nearly twice as long as the last one! As you can see, I'm raising a lot of questions about the in-universe dynamics of Pokéumans. A lot of stuff about their existence doesn't add up on the face of it, and yet, the Pokéumans exist in their world regardless. What's going on here? You guys are gonna have to wait to find out~ ;P


	3. Veterinaria

In a dormitory somewhere in the Salt Lake Base, a squad of six Pokéumans was sleeping. This squad was known as the Daggett Squad, because they did missions in and around Daggett County. This squad was part of a group of squads—or, a section—known as the Eastern Section, which itself was part of the group of sections called the Salt Lake PRT Infantry Division. Unlike the other Pokéuman bases, every single person in the Salt Lake Base was part of its Pokéuman Rescue Troop, which had various different divisions that all worked together.

The Daggett Squad was awoken by someone ringing the doorbell. It was 6:30 AM—a bit earlier than they usually awoke, but they figured something important must have been going on, so they all got up—a Fletchinder, a Wooper, a Mudbray, a Leafeon, a Galvantula, and a Reuniclus—and went to the main room.

Someone had slid an envelope through the front door’s mail slot. It was a bright pastel blue envelope with dark red text printed on it: _URGENT – READ ASAP!_

This sort of envelope was not very often seen. It was reserved solely for letters that talked about events of drastic importance (these envelopes and the letters inside were often called URAs, for the text emblazoned on their fronts)—discharges or reassignments of high-ranking officials, announcements of revisions to PRT ruleset, reminders to students of the Education Division that final exams were coming up, et cetera.

The Reuniclus, being the only one with hands, immediately opened up the envelope and pulled out a letter, as well as a plastic bag with a few surgical masks inside. She placed the bag on the coffee table and read the letter aloud.

“I, Sergeant Atama Gayoshi, am ordering everyone enlisted in the Eastern Section of the Salt Lake Pokéuman Infantry Division to social distance. Do not go out on any missions. Do not leave your quarters unless absolutely necessary, and if you do leave your quarters, make sure to wear a mask and to keep at least 6 feet of distance between you and any other person. These measures are needed to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.”

“Huh,” the Wooper commented. “I thought that Commander Solis wasn’t going to make any preventative measures against the virus?”

“This isn’t an order from Solis,” the Galvantula replied. “It’s an order from Sergeant Gayoshi.”

The Fletchinder spoke, “Yeah, but don’t a sergeant’s orders have to be approved by the Commander before being put through? That would mean that Solis had to see this social distancing order and approve it.”

“Maybe he’s acting without the Commander’s approval,” the Leafeon pondered.

“But that would be insubordination!” said the Wooper.

“I’d say it’s about time for insubordination,” the Reuniclus spat. “The only reason Hyrum is the Commander is because his brother Darryl is the Troop Leader. He’s completely ineffective at actually commanding our division.”

The Wooper’s mouth opened wide, like the ‘:O’ emoticon. “Leah! That is no way for a _corporal_ to speak!”

“Bite me,” said the Reuniclus.

“I agree with Leah. This nepotism has gone far enough,” said the Mudbray.

“Hey!” the Fletchinder interjected. “Commander Solis knows to put first things first! Just one measly disease is no reason to give up our entire purpose! We are Pokéumans! We need to keep our kind safe, and to keep our kind secret!”

Leah tossed the letter across the room. “That’s bullshit! How are we supposed to keep our kind safe when over half of us are too sick to even stand up?!”

The six Pokéumans exploded into an argument, throwing around harsh words and insults like soldiers in opposing armies sending bullets and grenades flying.

* * *

“I still can’t believe it. You’re _spies,_ and _neither_ of you know what Tor is?” Skip asked the two Pokémon who were currently standing on the desk and staring wide-eyed at their laptop screen.

“That’s so cool!” said Llueve. “An anonymous, untrackable internet browser!”

“If only we could make something like that for the Pokénet,” said Bog.

Skip rolled their eyes. “What was the name of that person you wanted to look up, again? Guadalupe Hsu?”

“Yup,” said Llueve.

Skip searched “Guadalupe Hsu”, and the first result was titled “Doctor Hsu Veterinary Clinic”. They clicked on it, and the site loaded.

And then, they fell to the ground, screaming, “Argh! Get it away!”

Llueve jumped down next to them. “What’s wrong?!”

“Th…That…” Skip raised a shaking finger. “…That horrible website design! It burns my eyes! It’s so awful! Why would you put red text on a bright yellow background?! What were they _thinking?!_ ”

“…You’re freaking out over web design?” Bog asked.

“That design _is_ really bad, to be fair,” said Llueve.

“If you think _this_ is bad, you’ve gotta see the old version of Grepa Vine,” said Bog.

“Grepa Vine?” said Skip.

“It’s a social media site on the Pokénet,” said Llueve. “I don’t use it very much, but I know a few people who do.”

Skip sat up and looked at Bog. “Hey, uh, how did you guys even find out about Guadalupe Hsu? You said you don’t have internet access at the base.”

“I said we can’t _upload_ data to the internet,” said Bog. “We can still read certain websites.”

Llueve nodded and jumped back onto the desk. “I was looking through the Salt Lake Tribune when I found an article about Dr. Hsu’s clinic.”

“They told me about it, so I later transformed into a human and visited a library to use their computer and do some more research. She’s a 48-year-old veterinarian from Mexico, and she has a wife named Hannah Guerrero who runs a blog about gardening. They used to be named Guadalupe Guerrero and Hannah Hsu, but when they married, they took each other’s surnames,” said Bog.

“OK…” said Skip. “And why _her_ specifically? Why not a different vet… One who knows how to hire a web designer?”

“We figure that, since she and her wife are lesbians of color, they would be sympathetic to our plight, since we’re basically a marginalized group,” said Llueve. “Plus, since she’s already a vet, she could learn how to take care of Pokémon! I’ve checked Pokéxtinction records, so I already know neither of them are spies.”

“Ah, I see! But how are we going to contact her?”

“Her phone number’s on her website,” said Bog.

“She’s still taking calls?”

“Yeah, she’s letting people call her to ask for advice about their pets’ health.”

Skip folded their arms. “How are we gonna convince her to join Knowledge over the _phone,_ though? She’ll just think we’re prank callers.”

Llueve paced around. “That’s the thing. We’re not going to call her. We’re going to _break into her house!_ ”

Skip blinked. “…Excuse me?”

“Well, it’s just gonna be _me_ breaking into her house,” said Bog. “And giving her a stolen copy of a Pokémon anatomy book.”

“Excuse me?!”

* * *

Around 7 AM, a small blue car pulled up in the driveway of a small suburban house. Out of the car came Guadalupe Hsu and Hannah Guerrero, who had just finished attending church.

“I’m gonna go take some photos of my tomatoes,” said Hannah as the two of them entered the house. “They’ve been getting quite ripe!”

While Hannah slid open the backdoor and went out into the garden, Guadalupe noticed something stuck to her shoe. She bent down and raised her foot, and it seemed to be a large pile of blue gum.

That was odd. She didn’t recall stepping in any gum earlier today (and she would have definitely noticed an amount this big), so this must have gone on her shoe sometime between leaving the car and going in the house. Where did it come from?

When she pinched and pulled at the mass in order to remove it from her shoe, it immediately came right off. That was even odder. Normal gum would stick, not come off smoothly like plastic wrap.

She closed the door with her free hand and held the blue mass at arm’s length.

“Excuse me,” a small voice said.

Guadalupe turned around. Nobody was there, besides the door.

Figuring she was just hearing things, she shrugged, turned back around, and started walking to the nearest trash can.

“Excuse me!” the voice said again.

Guadalupe whipped her head around left and right. “…Who’s there?”

“Me!” spoke the mass, as it grew a large, cartoonish mouth.

Guadalupe screamed and flung the mass across the room. It landed on the kitchen floor and made a pained groan.

“Lupita?” Hannah shouted from the garden. “Are you alright?”

Guadalupe couldn’t bring herself to speak. The mass on the floor stared up at her with two beady black eyes.

“Lupita?!” Hannah walked into the front hallway. Guadalupe looked at her, still speechless. “I heard you scream. Did something ha…”

She trailed off as she looked in the kitchen and saw the blue mass.

“Hello,” it said.

The two women stared.

“Hi,” Guadalupe replied.

“You’re Doctor Guadalupe Hsu, right?” the mass asked.

She slowly nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“Great! My name is Bog, and I need your help.”

“Uh…” Guadalupe paused. “What do you need help with?”

“Before I tell you that, let me ask you something: are you familiar with the Pokémon franchise, by any chance?”

Guadalupe didn’t reply. She stared at Bog and frowned, bringing her brows close together.

“My little brother plays that!” said Hannah. “But, how is that relevant?”

Guadalupe’s eyebrows raised. “Are you… a Ditto?”

“Yeah!” Bog grinned.

“Ditto?” Hannah asked.

“It’s a kind of Pokémon,” said Guadalupe. “A few years ago, I made a few blog posts about the scientific plausibility of Pokémon anatomy, and Ditto stood out to me for being incredibly implausible. It’s able to transform into any other Pokémon in the blink of an eye.”

Bog smiled even more. “Ooh, you’ve done your research! That’s good; I won’t have to do too much explaining. I need your help because—”

“Wait!” Hannah crouched down next to Bog. “Can you turn into a Pikachu? _Please?_ ”

Bog and Guadalupe both gave her a strange look.

“What? You said it can transform! I wanna see it do that!”

“I’m a _xe,_ ” Bog corrected, “not an _it._ ”

“A he?” Hannah asked.

“A _xe._ The neopronoun, xe. ‘Xe is drinking tea,’ ‘tea is drunk by xem,’ ‘xyr tea has been drunk,’ ‘the tea was xyrs,’ y’know?”

Guadalupe raised a hand and also crouched down. “Hold on, I’m still sort of… confused. Pokémon are _real?!_ ”

“Uh huh!” Bog nodded. “That’s why I need your help! You see, I’m specifically something called a _Pokéuman,_ which is a Pokémon who used to be a human. There’s this group called Pokéxtinction, which—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Guadalupe. “ _Wait._ A Pokémon that used to be human?! How… How does…?!”

“Well, when I was born, I was just like an ordinary human, but when I was ten, I suddenly started turning blue and gelatinous! Over the course of a week, I transformed into a Ditto, because I have Ditto ancestry. Now, about Pokéxtinction—”

“ _Ditto ancestry?!_ Uh, excuse me?! How does _that_ work?! Did… Was one of your parents a Ditto, or…?”

“Oh, no, I got my Ditto genes from an ancient ancestor millions of years ago, when Pokémon were interbreeding with proto-humans.”

Guadalupe sputtered. “Qué—Cómo—Eh?! Millions of… Interbree—… And that, along with the… transformation… I need to lie down.”

She stood up, walked to the living room, and flopped onto the sofa.

Hannah picked up Bog and walked to Guadalupe’s side. “Lupita, you alright?”

“De pinche acuerdo no…” she murmured. “No puedo creer que existan los Pokémon, ni que los humanos se puedan transformar en otros especies,” she sat up and started yelling, “¡ni que _hace millones años, los Pokémon hayan chingado a los humanos y causado que esta persona en particular se vuelva un Ditto, pero no que todos otros humanos se vuelvan Pokémon, aunque genes de tan lejos en el pasado estarían en cada humano vivo ahora por la catástrofe de Toba—!_ ”

She clutched her head. “Ay—! ¡Me duele la cabeza!”

“Uh…” Bog looked up at Hannah. “What did she say? I don’t speak Spanish.”

“Something about not believing that Pokémon can exist or that humans can transform, I think,” she said. “She said it kinda quickly, so I’m not sure. She also said something about genes, maybe? I know for sure that she said her head hurts, though.”

“I understand. I didn’t believe the history of Pokéumans when _I_ heard it, either. But as far as anyone knows, it’s the truth. Now, will you finally let me tell you about the help I need?”

Guadalupe looked at xem with weary eyes. “OK…”

* * *

Skip was waiting around in their house with Llueve for Bog to get back. Xe had said that xe could do this little mission on xyr own, and the two of them trusted xem.

“Hey,” said Skip.

“Hm?” said Llueve.

“What sort of stuff do you do as a member of Pokéumans? And as a member of Knowledge, also?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter came across a bit lore-dumpy xD I'm just really into worldbuilding!  
>  Just so you all know, in this story, I'll sometimes mention real world stuff without getting too much into the details of it, which might confuse people who don't already know about the stuff I mention. I really wish I could explain these things in the story itself, but I don't want to slow down the story every time I mention something from real life that people might not know about. In this chapter, I mentioned [Daggett County](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daggett_County,_Utah) and [Tor Browser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_\(anonymity_network\)#Tor_Browser). (Oh, and I'm just assuming that everyone reading this is already familiar with the original Pokémon franchise. If you're not (or if you just can't remember each of the 800+ pokémon species), you should just check [Bulbapedia](https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page).)  
>  Also, I hope I'm doing this perspective-switching stuff alright!
> 
> If you're wondering what Guadalupe was saying, it was: "Of fucking course not... I can't believe that Pokémon exist, nor that humans can transform into other species, nor that _millions of years ago, Pokémon fucked humans and made this person in particular become a Ditto, but without making other people become Pokémon, even though genes from that long ago in the past should be in every human alive because of the Toba catastrophe--!_ Ah! My head hurts!"  
> [The Toba catastrophe hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toba_catastrophe_theory) basically states that the human population went through a bottleneck dozens of millions of years ago because of a supervolcanic eruption, reducing them to around 10,000 in number.


	4. Crecimiento

“…So, lemme make sure I have this all straight,” said Skip to Llueve, both of whom were lying on Skip’s bed. “You and Bog work as spies in the Pokéuman Rescue Troop’s Espionage Division, specifically in a team called the Central SLC Team, because you work in and around the central part of Salt Lake City. Bog is the CSLC Team’s supervisor, which is basically the leader of a team, and who deals more with the internal politics of the division, and you’re an agent, who does all the dirty work and gathers intel up close. The rest of your team is also part of Knowledge—and in fact, you and your team are the original founders of Knowledge—and they want to help reveal Pokémon to the world. The Chief of the PRT Espionage Division is a female Grimer named Skyler Welch, who is _not_ a Knowledge member, but you are considering recruiting her.”

Llueve nodded. “Yup! That’s all correct!”

“And,” Skip continued, “Knowledge is currently composed exclusively of people from Utah, because you’re unable to contact people from outside the state without being tracked. The two former Pokéxtinction members who are part of Knowledge are Tango—a transgender Arbok boy, and HeLa—a Reuniclus and former spy.”

Llueve nodded once more. “Uh-huh! Still correct!”

“Both of them have managed to infiltrate the Salt Lake Base, and the only ones who know their old affiliation are you and the other members of the CSLC Team. Tango is part of the Infantry Division’s Ogden Squad, and HeLa is part of the Daggett Squad. You don’t like HeLa’s codename because it sounds too much like her real name, Leah.”

Llueve nodded decisively. “Perfect. You got it all right!” ~~~~

“Alright, now that you know the situation here, whaddaya say?” Bog asked a bewildered Guadalupe (and an awestruck Hannah standing off to the side) while xe sat on the coffee table. “Will you join Knowledge and help us teach the world about the truth behind Pokémon?”

Guadalupe put her hands together and took a deep breath.

“…OK, I’ll join your group.”

“Ooh, can I join, too?” Hannah asked.

“Sure,” said Bog, “but both of you are gonna need codenames first.”

Hannah gasped. “Codenames?! Wow, I feel like I’m in a James Bond movie or something! What should I choose, what should I choose…?”

Guadalupe silently put a finger to her chin. After a few seconds, she asked, “Can our codenames be whatever we want?”

“Yeah, as long as they’re not already used by someone else,” said Bog.

“Hmm… Is ‘Xóchitl’ already used?” asked Guadalupe.

“Is what?” asked Bog.

“Xóchitl,” said Hannah.

“Sho… Sho-chit-tul?” Bog failed to pronounce.

“ _Xóchitl,_ ” Guadalupe and Hannah corrected in unison. (Guadalupe explained, “It’s the Aztec word for ‘flower.’”)

“I don’t know how to pronounce that!”

“It’s just two syllables,” said Guadalupe. “/ʃoː/ and /tʃitɬ/.”

“/ʃoʊ/ and… what?” Bog asked.

“/tʃitɬ/!” said Guadalupe.

“Cheat?”

“/tʃitɬ/,” she repeated slowly.

“Che… Cheel. Cheetle.”

Guadalupe facepalmed. “Y’know what? Let’s just go with Flora instead.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure that’s taken by a Bellossom already,” said Bog.

Guadalupe facepalmed with her other hand. “What about… Doctora?”

“…I think that’s not taken.”

“OK,” Guadalupe sighed. “I’ll be Doctora, and… Hannah, what about you?”

“Faa.” said Hannah.

“Huh?” said Bog.

“No, Faa. It’s the _Cantonese_ word for ‘flower.’”

“Uh…” Bog hesitated. “OK. Doctora and Faa, you are now officially part of Knowledge!”

“WOO!” Hannah threw her arms up in the air and jumped up and down in circles.

While Hannah did her celebration dance, Bog looked at Guadalupe. “By the way, I have something to give you.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Bog smiled, reached inside xyr body, and took out a somewhat thick book. Xe handed it to her, saying, “Something you’ll find interesting.”

Guadalupe read the title. “ _A Basic Introduction to Pokémon Anatomies, by Dr. Geukmong Bo_?”

She opened it up and looked at the table of contents. Then, she flipped through a few pages, her eyes widening. “…This is amazing!” She slammed it shut and held it close to her chest like it were a newborn baby. “Thank you!”

“No prob!” said Bog. Xe looked around. “Uh, what time is it right now?”

Guadalupe looked at her watch. “Half past seven.”

“Seven thirty?! Sheesh, it’s been an hour since I left!” Bog headed for the back door. “Sorry, wish I could chat more, but I gotta go! I’ll come back later! Please don’t tell anyone else about this yet! Loose lips sink ships!”

Xe slid the back door open and left.

Commander Solis’s office was a simultaneously grandeur and minimalist room. It had incredibly high, ornately-carved ceilings to allow tall Pokémon inside, similarly large stained-glass automatic sliding doors with sensors that could detect even a Joltik with dwarfism, and a chandelier that looked like it was ripped straight out of a Mormon temple, but other than that there was very little inside: just a small black desk with a poofy office chair on one side, a bunch of folding chairs on the other, and a small trash bin to the side, all surrounded by a gray tiled floor and white walls.

Atop the desk was a gold-colored nameplate displaying the Commander’s name, role in the base, and—oddly enough—his Pokémon species, gender, and blood relations. _Hyrum Solis, Commander of the Salt Lake PRT Infantry Division, Altaria (male), younger brother of Darryl Solis._

At the moment, Commander Solis was sitting in his poofy chair, and Atama Gayoshi was uncomfortably sitting in one of the small folding chairs.

“Sergeant Gayoshi,” Solis spoke, malice dripping from his high voice. “I have been informed that you have gone behind my back and issued a ‘social distancing’ order to your section. This is treason—but I’m sure you’re already aware of that.”

Gayoshi silently glared at Solis.

“I’ll take your silence as confirmation of your awareness. Gayoshi, Gayoshi… Let me remind you of something. The purpose of our organization is to allow us Pokéumans to live in peace—and we can’t _live_ in peace if we’re all sitting ducks, waiting in our bunkers for Pokéxtinction to come and kill us.”

“You say that as if the coronavirus weren’t also killing us,” Gayoshi interjected. “Need I remind you that over half of the Infantry Division has been incapacitated by it?”

“Need _I_ remind _you_ that this coronavirus is no more fatal than any other variety of the _flu?!_ This is simply a temporary hardship, one curable by simply giving it time.”

“We don’t have time!” Gayoshi bounced in his flimsy office chair as he yelled. “The entirety of the Medical Division is in agreement that if we don’t put in measures to prevent the virus’s spread _as soon as possible,_ then the entirety of the Infantry—”

“You’re _really_ going on about that again?!” Solis leaned forward and glared in a way that probably would have been menacing if he hadn’t been an Altaria trying to intimidate an Aggron. “Those fools don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve seen my troops for myself, and they’re as healthy as horses! Given that you clearly aren’t going to stop obsessing over this crackpot coronavirus theory, I have no choice… Atama Gayoshi, I hereby ~~fire~~ discharge you ~~from your position as sergeant of the Eastern Section~~ from the Salt Lake Base Pokéuman Rescue Troop Infantry Division! Hand over your badge!”

With a resigned, but unsurprised sigh, Atama ripped his badge off of his suit, leaving an unsightly hole in the fabric, and slammed it onto Hyrum’s desk. He then stormed out of the office.

Solis turned and shouted, “Wait, you need to fill out the discharge paperwork first!”

At around 7:45, the Daggett Squad was still squabbling amongst themselves.

“And another thing,” Leah yelled at the angry Wooper, “the ancient Maya weren’t a unified empire! They were a collection of independent kingdoms who happened to share similar linguistic and religious backgrounds, and—!”

 _Clunk!_ went the mail slot as a second envelope was dropped through it. “—Huh?”

Leah and the rest of the squad turned to look at the envelope. It was yet another URA.

After a moment of hesitation, Leah sighed, opened the letter, and placed it on the table next to the masks.

Everyone silently crowded around the table and read.

_TO THE SLPRT INFANTRY DIVISION_

_Atama Gayoshi has been dishonorably discharged from his position as the sergeant of the Eastern Section, as punishment for acts of treason and insubordination. The next sergeant of the Eastern Section will be revealed tomorrow on Monday, June 15 2020. The social distancing order announced by Gayoshi will not be followed._

_This message was approved by Commander Hyrum Solis._

_SALT LAKE POKÉUMAN BASE – LABORAMVS VNA_

“Huh!” said the Wooper, glaring at Leah. “What an interesting development… Looks like Gayoshi’s met the consequences for his _act of insubordination like I said—_ ”

“Eat shit, Ala.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all have probably noticed that I've been updating this fic every Thursday. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to finish chapter 5 by next Thursday, so chapter 5 will probably be a bit delayed.


	5. Fracasos

Skip was lying on their bed, with Llueve sleeping on top of their chest. Waiting for Bog was getting pretty boring, so Skip was just letting their mind wander, and they felt like they were also going to fall asleep any moment.

_Clang! Clang!_ A weird noise came from under the bed. ~~~~

“Huh?” Llueve stirred awake. They jumped off the bed while Skip leaned over, brushing aside their long hair to keep it out of their eyes. The sound seemed to be coming from the vent.

_Clang!_ The vent cover got pushed off, and a familiar blue Ditto came shlorping out.

“Oh, Bog! Did you do it?” asked Llueve.

“Yup! I’ve recruited Gua—uh, the doctor, and her wife! Their codenames are Doctora and Faa!”

“Great job—! Wait, what? _Faa?_ ”

“Yeah. Faa, the Cantonese word for flower.”

“That’s… a weird sounding codename,” Llueve shrugged, “but whatever.”

Bog waddled forward and looked at Skip. “I think me and Llueve should head back to the Pokéuman Base now. We have to report there regularly, or else they’ll just assume that we got captured by Pokéxtinction.”

“Oh,” said Skip. “See ya, then!”

“Bye!” said Llueve.

The two Pokémon dashed out.

* * *

At 11 AM sharp, the spies of the Central SLC Team met in their office. The team supervisor, whose name wasn’t officially listed as Bog, and whose gender wasn’t officially represented with an “X,” sat at one side of a circular table, while the other three team members sat at chairs arranged around the table.

From Bog’s left to xyr right, they were Lucy the Nidoran, Llueve the Mudkip, and Violet the Clefairy.

Under normal procedure, each team meeting was meant to be recorded in full.

The CSLC Team, needless to say, rarely followed normal procedure. The higher ups didn’t think this was too weird—there were countless stories of highly effective teams that could only do what they do because of how they bent the rules, and this team tried their best to cultivate that kind of image.

“I’m quite impressed,” said Lucy, nodding her purple-colored head. “Already making such quick strides… I’d say by the end of the year, we’ll have already reached Phase II of the plan.”

“Major congratulations~!” Violet clapped.

Bog subtly blushed deep blue. “Thanks, gals.”

Violet smirked to show off her cute fangs. “Who’ll you recruit next, Boggy?”

“I’ll be recruiting…”

Bog paused dramatically.

“…my _own_ clone.”

* * *

“Excuse me, Miss Naomi Tanaka!”

Hajime sighed and turned around. He wasn’t sure what his Spanish teacher wanted to talk with him about, right after the bell to end class had rung, but he was sure with that tone of voice (and that intentional deadnaming) that it wasn’t anything good.

“Yes, Mr. Ley?”

Mr. Ley held up a sheet of paper with his strawberry-ice-cream-colored hands. Hajime recognized it as a recent assignment where he simply had to describe what he did on a typical day.

“I need to talk to you about these strange typos you keep making in your work,” he said in a smug tone of voice, fake concern dripping like blood from an open wound.

Hajime took a deep breath as Mr. Ley continued, “You’re normally able to differentiate between the female and male genders just fine in your writing—you use ‘a’ in feminine adjectives, and ‘o’ in masculine, but for whatever reason, you keep using ‘o’ when referring to yourself, even though you’re—”

“I’m a _boy._ ” Hajime turned on the ball of his foot and walked off. He didn’t have time for this shit. Lunch was about to start.

Stepping into the crowded hall, he noticed something.

A boy was leaning against the wall in front of him. This alone wouldn’t be anything special, but there was something that _was_ special about the boy.

He looked exactly like Hajime, from his short, straight, black hair, to his old, scuffed sneakers. He even had the same rainbow pin on his backpack’s left arm strap.

The boy looked up, locked eyes with Hajime for a split-second (his eyes were a piercing blue, instead of Hajime’s dark brown), and started running.

“Huh?! Wait!” Hajime ran after the doppelganger, swiftly dodging the other students in the hall.

The doppelganger headed up the stairwell, and then he sprinted through the hall, going the opposite direction of the crowd, with Hajime in close pursuit.

The boy dashed into the boys’ bathroom. Hajime didn’t hesitate to follow him inside.

There were a few boys at the urinals, but all the stalls were open. Hajime couldn’t see the doppelganger, so he figured he must have been hiding in one of them.

He looked in the closest stall.

“Uh…?”

Instead of the identical-looking boy, there was a weird blue blob sitting on the toilet seat. It looked kind of like a Shiny Ditto. For some reason, the sight of it made some sort of phrase pop up in the back of his mind, something like, _‘You’re one of them!’_

The phrase came with a bit of disgust, but Hajime didn’t understand why. He wasn’t disgusted by this thing. He didn’t have any idea who “they” were either.

The blob reached up with a limb that transformed into a sign with the phrase “ドア閉じて” written on it.

Hajime had his jaw dropped open in confusion, but he closed the stall door as was asked.

The blob started to slowly push something out of itself. It seemed to be a notepad. The blob waggled the half-exited notepad at Hajime, who hesitantly took it in his hands.

A pencil was stuck in the notepad’s rings. There was already something written on the front page:

_僕（ぼく）と話（はな）すために、このノートを使（つか）ってください！_

Hajime was only so-so at his heritage language, but he could still easily figure out that this meant “Please use this note to talk with me!” He felt a little patronized that the Ditto felt the need to use furigana, but he shrugged it off.

Hajime thought for a moment and wrote, “誰ですか？” (“Who are you?”)

The Ditto’s sign morphed so as to say, “Bogと呼んでね！光るメタモンだよ。英語は「xe/xem」代名詞を使う” (“You can call me Bog! I’m a Shiny Ditto. In English, I use xe/xem pronouns.”)

“ポケモンはソンザイしないけど” Hajime wrote, feeling a little embarrassed he didn’t know the kanji for ‘sonzai.’ (“But Pokémon don’t exist.”)

“存在するよ” displayed Bog. (“They do.”)

The bell rung. While the other men in the bathroom quickly left, Hajime simply wrote, “なんで俺に自分を見せているのか？” (“Why are you showing yourself to me?”)

Bog hesitated for a moment, and then spoke in a soft voice, “実はっ… I mean, to be honest, I’m not _just_ a normal Pokémon. I’m something called a Pokéuman—I used to be a human, but then I became a Pokémon.”

“…Pokéuman?” Hajime asked. “You mean like that weird DeviantArt fanfic AU I got into when I was 9?”

“Uh—Yeah, kinda… That group was started by the human clone of Mr. Chan. It’s meant to serve as a cover up for us, so anybody saying we’re real will look like they’re just confusing fiction and reality. Even the guy who started the group thinks it’s just a story he made up.”

“OK, so… why are you telling me this?”

“Because I need your help,” said Bog. “I’m part of a rebel group known as Knowledge. I need your help in order to reveal the truth about Pokémon to the world!”

“Lemme guess, there’s some sort of catch?” Hajime asked.

Bog slouched slightly. “…Yup. It’s not just the Pokéumans who are real. Pokéxtinction is real, too, and if we don’t play our cards right, then our group could get stamped out by either of those organizations before we get off the ground!”

“Ah, jeez… Well, how can I help, exactly?”

“At the moment? By recruiting others. We need all the human members we can get—preferably ones living in a lot of different places. We can’t do this just by sitting around in Utah.”

Hajime hmmed.

“Uh, listen, what you’re talking about’s interesting, but it also highkey sounds like some kinda MLM or cult or some shit.”

“ _なに_ —, I mean: _what?!_ ” said Bog.

“What, do you just expect me to swallow this shit wholesale? Come on, when there’s a Pokémon right in front of me, I can believe that they exist, but I don’t have any proof when it comes to you telling me about Pokéumans, and _especially_ not about this ‘Knowledge’ group. Convince me.”

“I shoulda known you’d be skeptical…” Bog muttered under xyr breath. “Well… I’m not _just_ any Pokéuman. I’m the Pokéuman who _you’re_ a clone of.”

“…Eh?”

“Lemme prove it. You’re half-Japanese, half-European. Your favorite food is strawberry ice-cream, but you feel guilty about how it’s a stereotypically ‘girly’ food. One time when you were like 4, the lymph nodes in your arm swelled up due to an infection, and it looked like there was a tennis ball under your skin. This proof enough?”

Hajime folded his arms. “…You could just be a dedicated stalker. Plus, we don’t even use the same pronouns.”

He opened the stall door. “Besides, I wouldn’t be interested in getting caught up in that sort of stuff anyway. I just want to be a normal boy. And I have lunch to eat!”

Bog opened xyr mouth, but couldn’t come up with anything to say before Hajime fled, slamming the door behind him.

Xe sighed.

* * *

Llueve was sitting at a table in their dorm, enjoying some lunch alone. They were having a taco made with a soft tortilla, ground beef, and just a little bit of hot sauce. They liked tacos. They were easy to make and to eat, even with Mudkip paws.

Just as they took a bite, though, someone banged on the door. “Mr. Benson! This is the SLPRT Espionage Division! Open the door right now!”

Llueve’s heart skipped a beat. They almost spat out the taco, but instead they swallowed, placed the rest back on the plate, and walked over to the front door. What did their fellow spies need them for? A sudden high-priority mission? Were they getting promoted? Fired? They honestly had no clue, but judging by the way the agent at the door yelled, it probably wasn’t good.

Taking a deep breath, they unlocked the door. Before they could open it, it got forced open by a Marowak, knocking Llueve back.

“Mr. Benson,” the Marowak spoke sternly while Llueve got back on their feet, “we’re taking you in for questioning. We have reason to believe that you have been engaging in traitorous activity.”

“Wh—” Llueve tried to speak, but some more Pokémon burst into the room and restrained them in the blink of an eye. One of them pinned Llueve to the ground and shoved a gag in their mouth. Another tied a blindfold around their head. A third tied up their limbs, leaving them able to do nothing but squirm. The Pokémon then all forced Llueve into a large body-bag.

Just as soon as the agents came in, they left, bringing the struggling Llueve with them.

They didn’t even get to finish their taco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen I _know_ I'm super late  
> I do not have any excuse for myself  
> the next chapter's probably gonna be late too  
> sorry


End file.
